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“We gonna pop [the drug dealers] in the head,” says Mayor Valley, who just instituted a 24-hour, non-stop curfew as part of an effort to reduce violence. This means that everyone in the area is essentially under house-arrest. The people who live there are not even allowed on their front lawns.

“Nobody can walk down the street and be safe, that is, be free from police interference,” says the mayor.

According to a local television station, not all locals are thrilled:

“I don’t think it’s right,” expresses Stevens. Some neighbors say they’re being unfairly punished for the crimes other people have committed. “They know exactly who’s doing the shooting, the robbery, but it seems like we’re never going to get any justice around here,” says Stevens. “We got kids down here. They should lock up these young folks that have been doing the shooting; don’t put us hostage or on lockdown,” complains Commons.

Fortunately, the good mayor’s staff has provided his cell phone number in case people have questions.

Bob Dylan is surely one of the greatest songwriters who ever lived. This may be my new favorite song.

(Thanks to Leslie Webb for the email and link.)

Shawn, an American hero and verbal critic of the Cult of Scientology, was found dead on February 16th, 2008.

Rest in peace, Shawn Lonsdale.

Welcome to the new America, brought to you by your ignorance and the leaders of the Republican and Democrat political parties alike.

Click here if you can’t see the video.

Click here if you can’t see the video.

From Slashdot:

The Department of Homeland Security’s Real ID program has a real challenge on its hands from California. DHS had said it will only grant extensions from the Real ID rules taking effect on May 11 to states that apply by March 31 and promise to implement Real ID by 2010. California requested an extension but would not make the latter promise. DHS buckled and said, in effect, “Good enough.” Perhaps they realized that trying to slap giant California around is qualitatively different than doing the same to New Hampshire.

Click here for the full article.

From the article:

Primary school children should be eligible for the DNA database if they exhibit behaviour indicating they may become criminals in later life, according to Britain’s most senior police forensics expert.

Gary Pugh, director of forensic sciences at Scotland Yard and the new DNA spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), said a debate was needed on how far Britain should go in identifying potential offenders, given that some experts believe it is possible to identify future offending traits in children as young as five.

From the article:

THE US economy lost the title of “world’s biggest” to the euro zone this week as the value of the US dollar slumped in currency markets.
Taking the gross domestic product of both economies in 2007, the combined GDP of the 15 countries which use the euro overtook that of the US when the European currency surged to a record high of more than $1.56 per euro overnight.

“The curious outcome of breaching this latest milestone is that the size of the euro zone’s annual output has now exceeded that of the US,” the economics department of Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street investment bank, said in a note to clients.

Taking official estimates of 2007 GDP, $US13,843,800 billion ($14,726,000) for the United States and 8,847,889.1 billion euros for the euro zone, the economy of the latter passed the US once converted into US dollars, shortly after the euro topped $1.56.

The US dollar sank to $1.5688 per euro late in European trading hours overnight, at which rate the euro zone’s 2007 GDP equates to $13,880,568.4 billion.

The 2007 GDP estimates are as published by the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis and provided to Reuters on request for the euro zone by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics office.

I really enjoyed reading this article, although I think TheOnion.com would be much better suited publisher.

Here are some excerpts:

Banking experts say there is one thing that will save your money if your bank goes under. That’s FDIC insurance. “It’s the gold standard,” says banking consultant Bert Ely. “The FDIC has ample resources. It’s never been an issue,” he says.

As loan delinquencies rise, and bank failures increase, the FDIC is shoring up its reserves.

That’s fascinating, because last I checked (about five minutes ago), the FDIC had in its assets about 1.2% of the deposits it claims to “insure”.

If your bank bites the dust, there’s nothing to fear according to the FDIC. A healthier banking institution normally buys the failed bank according to Barr. “There is little or no interruption to the consumer,” he says. “If you go to bed one night as a customer of a bank, and you wake up as a customer of a new bank, there is nothing you have to do.” Your checks will still clear, you can still use your ATM card.

See? Bank failure isn’t even a bad thing!